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Indiana farmer, 1909, v. 64, no. 17 (May 1)

Page 1

VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 1, 1909.
NO.?17
Pioneer Farming.
By Walter S. Smith.
I am (U years old, and younger people call me an old man. But the actual
pioneer work dates further back than my
memory goes. I remember when the
double shovel came round, and I saw the
harvest taken care of before the first reaper appeared. We do not say "reaper"
now. We call them "binders." The
first that came was McCormack's reaper;
and so great a matter was it that it was
mentioned and analyzed in Comstock's
Philosophy, a book of high grade prepared
for the college course
The pioneers cut their wheat and rye
and oats and barley with a crooked saw-
toothed implement called a sickle. Meadows were clipped with a mowing scythe;
and this, within my recollection, was modified into au instrument for cutting the
other grasses (called grains) by attaching
to it a set of bow shaped fingers that
caught the straight stalks and carried
them round into a "swath." The implement with a broader blade, a heavier
snath, and the phalanx of fingers, was
<alle<i a cradle; and many a man in my
later boyhood prided himself on his skill in
using the cradle. It is used yet in hilly,
stumpy or stony fields; but perhaps a
majority of the Indiana Farmer readers
would regard the cradle as a curiosity.
ln my father's life-time, the side-plow
came into being. Before the smiths
learned to turn the mol'd board, this part
ct the side-plow was made of wood; and
there are a few rare specimens of the
' wooden mold-board" plow still in existence. I remember hearing them talk of
it as a "bar share" plow. The "share"
ol' the plow was made of iron long before
the curved side; and as it was bolted to the
bar connected with the point it was called
bar share. I think I was eighteen years
(■lsi when the first "left handed" plow
rame into our neighborhood. That is, a
plow with the mold-board (curved side) on
the left. This was received with the
usual doubt suffered by new things, until it
was tried. When it was made clear
tl.at there were no disadvantages in it, it
v. as acknowledged as every way better. (1)
It placed the "near" horse in the furrow,
and the "off" horse on solid (unplowed)
t round. (2) It enabled the team to
(urn "haw" instead of "gee," at the corners. (3). By plowing around the plowed land the work was made to look neater;
;;nd the work was finished near the fence
ii'Uead of the middle of the field.
But I am not saying what I intended to
say. I wanted to remind the happy young
farmers who read this article of some
rlebts they owe to their dads. Looking
«ut over a large field free from stumps
and bowlders and water-puddles, we can
scarcely conceive what it was in pioneer
'lays. Think of a hard year's work on
ten acres in the mere matter of cutting
the timber with axes,—for few had saws,
1 nrning the brush and the rougher logs,
splitting cuts from the straighter trees into
rails, building fences, and finally plowing
the ground, late in the spring after the
water had time to evaporate or run off.
This plowing at first hail to be done with
the crudest implement, for even the bar-
share wooden mold-board plow was an invention and a discovery. It was done at
first with a forked stick; but probably
never in this stnte. Much of it was
done however with a shovel plow, from
the very necessity of dipping down into
the soil between the roots. On the ten
acres fresh from the woods there would
be a thousand stumps, roots from which
often a half-rod long, would be lying at
the surface of the ground. The "hog
and hominy" produced that way were very
expensive articles of diet.
1 have heard my mother say her father's family, reared six miles south of circle
street in Indianapolis, had passed as
much as three weeks at a time, without a
morsel of bread. Mills were scarce, and
the corn meal from which their bread was
was their source of light.
Not a writing desk or table could be
secured, and the few who did write had
to take turns in sitting up to a board or
puncheon laid on pins against the lighted
wall.
In some localities they had boards; but,
before the water saw-mill came in, the
boards had to be cut out of a hewed log
with a "whip saw."
Many of our fathers had to be their
own blacksmiths, shoemakers, carpenters,
etc. My father who was born in South
Carolina, knew men who never possessed
White River at Flood Time; near Indianapolis.
made, had to be ground out of their own
corn at these mills; often as much as ten
n_iles distant from their dwellings. There
vsas at first not even a mill where Indianapolis stands.
Her brothers once went to the mill and
lad to wait three weeks for their "turn."
"First come, first served" was the law.
everywhere observed.
What did the family of a dozen do meantime, for bread? Why they did without.
They substituted ;.sarched corn, and were
glad to have that.
Tt Ir clothing was all home made.
"The girls wore linsey dresses,
And boys wore pants of tow
Their shoes were all of cow-hide
And socks of homespun wool
And children did a half day's work
Before they went to school."
School? Sometimes they had none.
The school house was a primitive affair
indeed. It was built of logs, and furnished with "puncheon" seats. The
puncheon was a half-log with the split side
up. If there was an adz or a drawing-
knife in the community, they could make
the surface fairly smooth. Otherwise
they must depend on the broad-axe, or
eveu the common chopping axe. This,
if course mnde an imperfect surface; but
they used such seats ansl were thankful.
Ihere were no blackboards and slates
were rare. The glnss window was a great
advance, accomplished about the time I
was born. Before glass came 'round
they pasted greased paper over the space
where a log had been cut out, and that
n pair of adioes until they were old enough
to make them. And as much can be said
of pioneer women; but it will have to be
passed by and taken for granted.
The Farm Dog.
By Irma B. Matthews.
I have been reading much of late about
the farm dog and I find that many writers condemn the dog as worthless, useless
and a nuisance generally. Now I want
to put in a plea for the dog. A worthless dog a great many times is the fault
of an ignorant master; then why condemn
the dog?
A good dog well trained is the farmer's
best friend. I shall never forget a Scotch
collie owned by my father when I was a
girl at home. She saved many steps as
she always went after the cows at night,
brought them up and turned them into the
barnyard. What is more she was never
told when to go, and never varied over
fifteen minutes in the time for fetching
them.
If father was hauling grain or anything
where he wished to leave an open gate,
and there was danger of stock getting in
or out. he simply laid down his coat and
told Nellie to watch it, and she would
stay there all day, or until he came for
the coat. Tf she found a pair of gloves
or any article small enough for her to
carry laid ilown anywhere about the place,
sue always brought it at once to the house,
and she never went qff from the farm.
But if you keep a dog love it, if you
cannot do this don't have one around. A
dog is as sensitive as a child and they
know at once if a person dislikes them. A
word of praise given them when they do a
thing well is understood too, remember
that.
Another thing, many people do not half
care for their dogs. They are not fed and
watered regularly and become surly or
snooping in consequence. A dog should
be fed, and also should have access to
plenty of fresh water. I believe fully
that there would be fewer cases of mad
dog if this rule were invariably followed.
If a dog is sick do not think it is mad.
I have at present a dog that was pre-
nounced "Mad" by some of my neighbors,
because she has spasms and frothed at
the mouth. That was four years ago
and she is as well and nice as ever.
Don't be afrnid to talk to your dog.
They understand far more than you give
them credit for. Some people never speak
to a dog unless they wish them to do something, and then are angry because they
do not undertand them; but why should
they? How much would a child understand treated in the same manner? There
is no animal that is quicker of comprehension of the human speech than a dog, and
it is not always a high priced one either.
Our dogs are always treated about like
one of the family and they respond to the
treatment wonderfully well. I have one
at present that is not a farm dog. She
is only a tiny pet, but she does nearly
everything she is told, even to carrying
notes around the neighborhood. She is
much attached to me, so much so that
when I was away from home for a couple
of weeks she nearly mourned herself to
death refusing to eat and crying nearly
all the time. When I returned the sterner
half of our family informed me that next
time I went I would take that dog along.
Then toll me dogs don't know anything.
Treat the dog right and you will have
no better friend.
Michigan. I
Vast Sum Goes Into Saloon.
Mr. L. A. H. of Dubois couny, in a recent letter, gives in striking metaphor, an
idea of the vast amount of money thrown
away by young men for intoxicating
drinks. For tbe sake of his argument,
he says:, "Put out all saloons in the state,
and then pension all saloon keepers who
have been in the business thirty years or
more. Add the nmount it would require
t, do this to the young men's poll tax, anal
even so, the young men would still have
plenty of money to deposit in the bank-
all the vast sum that now goes into the
thousands of saloons of the State."
Home Finding Society.
The quarterly meeting of the Indiana
Children's Home Society held in this eily
or, the .8th, received several very encouraging reports from its district superinten-
ilonts and field workers.
In November there were seventy-four
children in the home at Westfleld, and
rmce thnt time seventeen have been received and fifty have been placed, six in
ether institutions and forty-four in family
1 cmes. Quite a number of these childri'n
found good homes in farmers'families thru
the advertisement that appeared in The
Farmer. This society is doing great good
in bringing homeless children into chilsl-
less homes, and its work should be encouraged by all good people.
w

Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes.

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2011-03-23

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Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes.

VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 1, 1909.
NO.?17
Pioneer Farming.
By Walter S. Smith.
I am (U years old, and younger people call me an old man. But the actual
pioneer work dates further back than my
memory goes. I remember when the
double shovel came round, and I saw the
harvest taken care of before the first reaper appeared. We do not say "reaper"
now. We call them "binders." The
first that came was McCormack's reaper;
and so great a matter was it that it was
mentioned and analyzed in Comstock's
Philosophy, a book of high grade prepared
for the college course
The pioneers cut their wheat and rye
and oats and barley with a crooked saw-
toothed implement called a sickle. Meadows were clipped with a mowing scythe;
and this, within my recollection, was modified into au instrument for cutting the
other grasses (called grains) by attaching
to it a set of bow shaped fingers that
caught the straight stalks and carried
them round into a "swath." The implement with a broader blade, a heavier
snath, and the phalanx of fingers, was